Month: January 2010

HIV paedophile Irushaad jailed for three years

An HIV positive paedophile has been sentenced to three years in prison for having sex with two underage girls.

Twenty-six year-old Irushaad Moosa of Meemu Mulaku was arrested in August 2009 after returning home to the Maldives around four years prior after working on a Maldivian ship. He reportedly contracted the HIV virus while he was overseas.

Residents on Meemu Mulaku soon started complaining about Irushaad’s relationship with the young girls of the island.

In August 2009 he was reported to police for having sex with two girls aged between 16 and 17. The island chief told Minivan News that islanders were very concerned about Irushaad remaining loose in the community, as he had allegedly told them “I will infect others before I die.”

The prosecutor general’s office stated that although the sentence appeared lenient, it was the maximum possible as the crimes were committed before the new, tougher laws against sex offenders were passed.

Those laws, ratified in November, carry penalties of up to 25 years for sexual abuse of a minor. When serial paedophile Hussain Fazeel was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for 39 counts of child sexual abuse, it was the highest sentence for such a crime in the Maldives and widely regarded as a landmark decision for the country.

Aishath Velezinee, a human rights campaigner on the judicial service commission said the he three year sentence was the maximum under the applicable law “and I do not believe the judge has been irresponsible or lenient.”

“The fact is that the criminal act took place before the new harsher laws [were in place], and he cannot be penalised in retrospective.”

However, she said, “As there is no public sex offender registry, it is in the public’s interest for the media and civil society to report and monitor these convicts and their movements after their release, to ensure community safety. Paedophiles do not reform after a two year stint in jail.”

Asked if the island community was concerned about a criminal like Irushaad being released back into the community so soon, Hassan Zakaria, a social service officer formerly from the Meemu Mulaku  said the case “was probably reported because the island community was aware of the situation.”

“I believe that there is a lower possibility of something like this happening [again] on the island.”

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Candidates to submit names for DRP elections by 31 January

Candidates who wish to run in the Dhivehi Rayithunge Party (DRP) elections must submit their names by 31 January, reports Miadhu.

The party’s congress will decide the leader of the DRP and the party’s candidate for the 2013 presidential elections.

There are rumours that many party members would elect Maumoon Abdul Gayoom as the leader.

Although Maumoon has shown favour for Thasmeen to be elected as the next leader, Miadhu suggests that Maumoon and Thasmeen may run for president and vice president in 2013.

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President talks energy with ruler of Dubai

President Mohamed Nasheed yesterday met Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also the UAE’s vice president.

During this meeting the pair mostly discussed climate change, energy and tourism.

Sheikh Mohammed praised the role Maldives’ played in addressing climate change, and expressed desire to continue and reinforce the existing relationship between Maldives and the UAE.

Nasheed said the energy summit in Abu Dhabi would highlight the importance of alternative energy sources to combat climate change, and added for the the Maldives to fulfil its pledge of becoming a carbon neutral country, collecting the equipment was vital.

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IDP ‘has no future’ says Umar, jumping to DRP

President of the Islamic Democractic Party (IDP) Umar Naseer today said there was “no future” in a political career as president of such a small party.

Umar also announced he was joining the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) to further his political career, and claimed “the majority” of the IDP  now wished to disband the party altogether.

Umar was welcomed to the DRP by former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, during a special ceremony held on Sunday. Gayoom described Umar as an “outstanding politician”, and said it was significant that the president of another political party had elected to join the DRP.

Umar did not reveal whether he planned to contest the leadership of DRP. Candidates are required to nominate themselves for the elections by the end of January.

IDP collapse

The impact of Umar’s departure on the IDP is unclear. While the departing president said he was disbanding it, “a minority in the party are resisting and working to keep the IDP running as a political party,” he said.

At the ceremony, Gayoom said it was a great achievement for DRP for getting an outstanding politician like Umar and it is more special when a person who used to be the president of a different party joins DRP.

During a ‘aadhaya hilaafu’ congress of IDP members, Umar said the party’s members had consented to dissolve the party.

However IDP’s Vice President Mohamed Hassan Manik said  Umar “had no right” to disband the party because the majority of the party “do not want to do it,” and that it was illegal for him to do so.

”Maybe the majority of Alarms Pvt Ltd and the Whale Submarine [companies owned by Umar] want to dissolve the party, but none of IDP members want to,” Hassan said.

He furthermore condemned Umar for being “hungry for power.”

“That’s what he wants. We are very disappointed that a person trying to run for the administration of a country hesitates to follow the law,” Hassan said.

Hassan said the DRP were welcome to Umar “because the party needs someone who is willing to go out to the streets and protest to defend the DRP.”

”Umar is perfect for that,” Hassan said.

President of Elections Commission Fuad Thaufeeq described the whole case as ”a big mess and very unclear”.

Fuad said that nothing that Hassan and Umar said had anything in common, and that the Elections Commission was now gathering all of the IDP’s documents to try and decide whether Umar was technically able to disband the party.

Conflict at the IDP

The IDP was founded in December 2005 by Umar Naseer, Mohamed Haneef, Ahmed Inaz, Mohamed Ibrahim Didi, Abdulla Waheed and Mahamed Hassan Manik.

During the 2008 presidential election Umar, as a presidential candidate, garnered 1.39 per cent of the country’s votes (2472). The party received 214 votes during the elections to the Maldivian Assembly on 9 May 2009.

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30 packets of drugs found on five men

Police have arrested five men in Thaa Vaamendoo after finding them in possession of 30 packets of suspected narcotics, along with cash.

The five men arrested were Abdulla Azeezz Moosa, 20, Ibrahim Rahaa 27, Hussain Alifhulhu, 22, Hassan Alifulhu, 24, and a minor who was under 18.

The Vaamendhoo police and drug enforcement department are investigating the case.

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Visiting scientists say Maldives eclipse could rewrite laws of physics

Physicists from around the world converged on the Maldives together with astronomers and the simply curious to watch the spectacular eclipse on the weekend.

While most spectators were content with the dramatic sight of the rare annular eclipse – not to be repeated for another thousand years – these scientists were out to rewrite the laws of gravity.

Professor Hector Munera and Ed Oberg, two of the seven scientists known as ‘pendulum specialists’, gave a talk to the Maldives Science Society at Mandu College last night about the work they have conducted during their visit to the Maldives.

Colombian University scientist Munera, from the International Centre for Physics in Bogota, describes himself as a “classical Newtonian physicist”. But here in the Maldives his work is anything but classical – in fact, it goes against mainstream science.

In 1954 a French scientist and economist called Maurice Félix Charles Allais noticed that pendulums behaved oddly during a partial eclipse.

The dramatic annular eclipse as seen in Male' on Friday
The dramatic annular eclipse as seen in Male' on Friday

“Suddenly the pendulum jumped to another plane – the direction of oscillation changed abruptly,” explained Munera. “This was the first time the effect was observed.”

Similar pendulum behaviour was noticed during subsequent eclipse events. It became known as the Allais effect, and it developed a small following of scientists determined to prove that the strange behaviour of the pendulum meant that some component was missing from the accepted physics used to calculate the effect of gravity.

“We know a pendulum’s period should be constant. If the period changes during some kind of event, such as an eclipse, then that’s a gravitational anomaly,” Munera told the audience.

“Nobody had noticed that the position of the sun relative to the pendulum when eclipse began affected the pendulum’s behaviour. It was a significant finding because unlike mathematics, physics is not theoretical; it has to reflect the real world and good experiments demand modification of the theory.”

Ed Oberg, celestial mechanic, speaks to the Maldives Science Society
Ed Oberg, celestial mechanic, speaks to the Maldives Science Society

The scientists came to the Maldives before the latest eclipse and established ‘Pendulum house’ on Feydhoo island in Addu atoll. They installed five high-tech pendulums mounted in a rigid tripod, with a ball that is stopped, latched and released every 12 minutes and measured by laser range-finders. The contraption is capable of measuring the movement of the pendulum to one millionth of a metre.

The scientists are still analysing the data, “but what we think may possibly happen,” says Oberg, a mechanical engineer with 35 years of keen interest in celestial mechanics, “is that a miniscule component may have to added to the equation used to calculate the force between two celestial bodies. It could ruffle a lot of feathers.”

Acceleration due to gravity is measured in ‘gals’. The acceleration due to the Earth’s gravity on the surface is 976 to 983 gal, while the eclipse effect being observed by the pendulum scientists is no more than about five ‘microgals’ – millionths of a gal.

It might be miniscule but in this field of physics, size doesn’t matter.

“Tides are caused by 60 microgals – 60 millionths of a gal affecting every drop of water on the planet. Five microgals might not seem like much but it doesn’t just stop at pendulums – it affects everything, including tectonic plates,” says Oberg.

Ahid Rasheed, founding member of the Maldives Science Society (MSS), said the society was honoured to host the scientists while they conducted their work in the Maldives, “although it’s very frustrating for us because they are all working on their papers [and won’t share their results],” he joked.

The scientists with members of the Maldives Science Society
The scientists with members of the Maldives Science Society

He said he hoped the high level of public interest in the eclipse would foster an interest in science in the Maldives.

“Science used to be very popular here [as a subject],” he said. “But in the 90s people began to think that business and economics were better for the Maldives and business studies courses began to dominate the curriculum. Now some atoll and island schools don’t even have a science stream.”

Pictures courtesy of the Maldives Science Society. Eclipse image courtesy Nabeel Hilmy.

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Beautiful Fuvahmulah can’t see the beach for the garbage

He carefully loads the garbage into the boot of his car: it’s a mix of household waste.

“My mother composts all the food items in the backyard,” says Ahmed Ali, 30.

He drives to the dump site.

It is hard to miss; both sides of the road leading to it are lined with garbage, cans, plastic water bottles, paper waste, discarded household items, even a toilet seat. The entrance to the dump site is blocked by piles of garbage and overgrown bushes.

“I don’t want to dump garbage outside like this, but do I have a choice?” says a dejected Ali.

Sure enough, all three roads that lead to the dump site are lined with garbage on both sides.

A municipality worker comes by shortly with a rake, and carefully makes sure that no garbage spills onto the middle of the road.

Surveying the strewn garbage, it is easy to feel Ali’s dejection, after all this is Fuvahmulah; one of the most beautiful and fertile islands in the Maldives, and its unique ecosystem is being destroyed by waste.

Paradise lost: roads lined with rubbish
Paradise lost: roads lined with rubbish

Garbage dump or airport

“The 10,000 square feet dump site was built in 2003,” says Ahmed Mujthaba, councilor in charge of the Fuvamulah office. He adds that in 2006 the then government decided the same area of land was ideal to build an airport.

“It was decided that the dump site would have to be relocated and Mf600,000 was given as compensation by the government.”

It took one and half years for public consultation and to get an Environment Assessment Report (EIA) and approval from the housing ministry for the new location.

But no work has been carried out in the newly allocated dump site, located 200 meters from the existing dump.

Hassan Saeed, the atoll councilor, says a team from Environmental Research Center (now the Environment Protection Agency, or EPA) came to do a study in April 2008.

“They had a public consultation with the stakeholders and promised a ‘total waste management solution’ project that would take off in 2009.”

With no news from the EPA, Saeed contacted them in 2009 to be told that they didn’t have the necessary funds.

“We were told that the budget for it had been transferred to the newly created Waste Management Corporation (WMC) by the finance ministry.”

The WMC informed him that they hadn’t received any money for Fuvamulah.

Mohamed Zuhair, director general of EPA, says a study was done in Fuvamulah to try and develop energy from the waste but it was considered not feasible due to the small size of the population.

“We did have a budget under PSIP but that was taken from us and we can’t say for sure where it was transferred.”

Saeed says islanders who live in the vicinity of the proposed dump area also have concerns.

“They say how we can be sure people won’t dump garbage all over the place like they do now.”

They have agreed to the dump being built if the walls are 12 feet in height, the garbage is be segregated and if the latest equipment such as incinerators are brought in.

“Our funds are only enough to build a wall of three feet in height,” says Saeed.

He adds that a total waste solution is the answer and not just another dump site.

“There has to be household level sorting, ward collection points, a drive to re-use, re-cycle, and a way to export things that can’t be destroyed.”

The Women’s Development Committee is already sorting out garbage in their area, but it is proving to be futile as everything has to be dumped in the same area. Another NGO has proposed to provide bins in the famed beach areas in Fuvamulah, “but all that is useless, if all we are going to do is dump it at some site.”

Solutions

“It is not only Fuvamulah, almost all the islands of Maldives have a waste management problem,” says Ali Rilwan, executive director of NGO Blue Peace. He says it’s a serious issue and the lagoons of the Maldives are getting destroyed day by day.

“Does the environment ministry know what is happening in the islands? Do the councilors in the islands know that an EIA report has to be done for each project?” he asks.

He takes as an example the announcement by a councilor in Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll Thinadhoo that they are going to build a dump site in the sea.

Zuhair says the EPA is working towards a national waste management solution.

“We are not only developing waste management centres with the WMC and Province Utilities Companies, we are working to find solutions – we also want to do public awareness campaigns and have regional waste management sites.”

However no project is planned in Fuvamulah at the moment. Zuhair says most islands do contact them and know that they have to abide by their regulations.

“We found out about the Thinadhoo proposal through the TV and are contacting them to talk about it.”

Rilwan says a drive to reduce waste also has to be done “to reduce garbage, lessen PET bottles, plastic waste, all of these non bio-degradable items.”

He calls upon the government to do more, saying all he has seen so far is the creation of two corporations and the president and environment minister participating in a garbage collection day.

While the relevant authorities search for solutions, the garbage in Fuvamulah and other islands continue to pile up and pose safety, health and social issues to the islanders.

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Parliament called to arbitrate civil servant pay dispute

The ministry of finance has asked parliament and the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) to arbitrate a dispute between the ministry and the Civil Service Commission (CSC) over the restoration of civil servants’ salaries.

Parliament has been asked to act as a mediator as the ministry “does not believe a satisfactory solution can be found through discussions with the commission”.

Until the dispute is resolved, “employees will receive the salary that was reduced due to the economic circumstances,” the finance ministry’s statement said.

The CSC meanwhile criticised the ministry for a lack of communication and unwillingness to meet for discussions.

“They could ask us to sit down and discuss this tomorrow morning and we would be there,” said CSC member Mohamed Fahmy Hassan.

“We’ve sent many letters and made many requests for them to submit information but they have not submitted it to us,” he said.

The CSC was not opposed to the involvement of third parties such as the MMA, he said, but having another government institution like the MMA acting as a go-between “sounds a bit odd.”

“We can discuss the issue with MMA or the People’s Majlis, but there’s going to be no decision made without the involvement of the finance ministry.”

Parliament broke for recess in December and will begin its first session of the year in March.

Waiting game

On 30 December, the CSC issued a circular announcing that civil servants’ salaries and allowances had been restored to their former levels.

Since it was agreed that the pay cuts will be rescinded once government revenue exceeds Rf7 billion, the CSC argued, the salaries would have been “automatically reversed” when parliament approved this year’s budget with a revenue of over Rf7 billion.

However the finance ministry’s statement criticised the commission for the announcement as it came after the ministry had declared that the economic circumstances had not changed.

“And while it did not consult with the ministry, the fact that the Civil Service Commission did not seek the advice and counsel of the Maldives Monetary Authority, the most appropriate independent institution to approach before making such a decision, is regrettable,” it said.

No deal

The pay cuts of up to 20 per cent for civil servants were made necessary due to a fall in government income and an increase in expenditure, the ministry claimed.

In August, the government introduced a raft of austerity measures – including cutting back on travel, controlling capital items purchases, halting renovation and repairs unless necessary and pay cuts of 20 per cent for political appointees ranked higher than deputy minister to alleviate the inherited budget deficit.

Recurrent expenditure on salaries and allowances for government employees was 34 per cent of total expenditure in 2008, a 62 per cent increase from the previous year.

The International Monetary Fund [IMF] has noted that this puts the Maldives in first place among small island nations for the highest expenditure on government employees as a percentage of GDP.

Pay cuts for civil servants were enforced in October following protracted negotiations with the CSC.

The commission exercised clause 43[c] of its Act, which authorise it to alter salaries based on “special economic circumstances” subject to a review in three months.

“The measure proposed by this ministry to determine the special circumstances was the state’s income and expenditure,” the ministry’s statement read. “It was therefore agreed that the economic circumstances would be considered to have passed once the state’s annual income exceeds Rf7 billion, while it was also agreed that the state’s total income does not include foreign aid once-off revenue.”

It further added that the pay cuts were not made for a three-month period, but would be subject to a review to determine if the economic circumstances had changed.

The inclusion of foreign aid in the government’s budget is a particular point of contention, as it pushes the total revenue over Rf7 billion. Actual government revenue excluding foreign aid and once-off revenue was projected to be Rf6.8 billion in the budget.

“We understood it was the total revenue of the government. The ministry’s press release on 25 September said they were not going to exclude anything. This issue needs to be resolved,” said Fahmy.

Special circumstances would be considered to have improved when the state’s “recurring income” reaches Rf7 billion, the ministry said, and “not when it is estimated that Rf7 billion will be received in income.”

Scaring off donors

The opposition-dominated committee selected to review the budget made a recommendation to inject Rf617 million to restore civil servants’ salaries as the proposed budget had Rf7.05 billion in revenue.

While the original budget submitted to parliament had a deficit of 14.8 per cent and was acceptable to the IMF, the alternations made by parliament increased it to 18.8 per cent.

The ministry now estimates the deficit by the end of the year will exceed 18.8 per cent as the government will lose Rf150 million in revenue due to parliament’s failure to pass taxation legislation.

Increasing expenditure at the beginning of the year based on projected revenue was “not sensible at all”, the ministry insisted.

There were four ways the government could plug the deficit – printing money, financial assistance from international monetary organizations, obtaining commercial loans and devaluing the rufiyaa – all of which would have adverse effects of the economy.

Printing money would lead to inflation and a dollar shortage, taking commercial loans would make it harder for the private sector to secure loans and devaluing the currency would increase inflation and the price of imports.

Instead, the ministry reached agreements with the IMF, World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to obtain loans to plug the deficit.

However hiking salaries for government employees without increasing the revenue base was not “a sustainable fiscal or monetary policy”, and these international organisations have since informed the government that they are reconsidering the loans, the ministry’s statement said.

If the Maldives does not have an economic framework that is acceptable to the IMF, it continues, it would not be possible to obtain assistance or loans from other financial institutions.

Apart from potentially losing Rf755 million in assistance from the World Bank and ADB, the donor forum organised by the World Bank and scheduled for March could be canceled.

“Therefore, the ministry believes reducing expenditure is the wisest and most economically sensible way,” it said, adding that expenditure on wages had to be kept low until the economy rebounds.

Fahmy said the CSC was willing to negotiate and wished to meet the finance ministry “to hear their views on the economic circumstances.”

“We have always said that if there is a national crisis we will put the national interest above the interest of civil servants,” he said.

“But it is difficult to justify that to 29,000 civil servants if the government is spending on all the other items in the budget.”

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